Afternoon of January 19, 2024

 

snowflakes on my tongue

the beginning

of a new language

~Michele Rule

wool blanket

I curl up without feeling

the itch

~Michele Rule

seeing the world as it really is mantis shrimp

~dan smith

the snake in my stomach is hunting a toy mouse

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

garden mouse

now I’m on the side

of the small things

~Timothy Daly

New Year’s Eve I drop before Times Square

~Jennifer Gurney

humility digs up the plague

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

p    r    o    c    r    a    s    t    i    n    a    t    i    o    n 

~Jennifer Gurney

I gave to the church

later the casino

certain I would win

~James Penha

you are the dream

of someone suffering

from insomnia

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

What if my life

is not wild and precious?

 

Leave my dumpy life alone.

~Noah Berlatsky

subzero night

scratching at my back door

the feral cat

~John J. Dunphy

sand fleas

how can I live with you

—it bites

~Sharon Ferrante

joining the circus flea-bitten dog

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

warning to a werewolf

you bark, you bite;

not considering

i am waiting until the

right moment to 

drive a silver stake through

your heart.

~linda m. crate 

The Potato Eaters,

my family in the old house.

~Fhen M.

when I started playing tunes

with test tubes

I knew I had to leave Britain

and science

so I quit my prestigious PhD

and moved to Paris

to become a mediocre philosopher

a distracted piano player

and an even worse

poet

~Timothy Daly

curious eyes

the dragon asks

if I’m real

~Sharon Ferrante

Afternoon of January 13, 2024

peeling off price tags new year

~Jerome Berglund

a devil’s claw¿

the little boy chortles

as Captain Hook

~Randy Brooks

piecing things together a cradle burning

~Jerome Berglund

space rendezvous the love language of machines

~Randy Brooks

statecraft fifty two pickup

~Jerome Berglund

robot parts

at the garage sale

a solar flare chime

~Randy Brooks

is there anything

worse than an empty

fortune cookie

~Jennifer Gurney

farm helmet

a widower in all

but actuality

~Jerome Berglund

orbiting on the cusp

of spring and winter

spider eyes

~Randy Brooks

freezing the vote new lows in democracy

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

pumpkin filling all saints

~Jerome Berglund

intermission

the lull between

my marriages

~Jennifer Gurney

someone in my head

leave a last mushroom

for wee folk

~Randy Brooks

Afternoon of January 12, 2024

 

I wonder –

do unread library books

debate story outcomes

~Jennifer Schneider

Drafting

on an open highway –

equal parts right and revenge.

a blend of a thousand plot lines,

square corners in circular spaces,

and a thousand alternative story ends.

~Jennifer Schneider

day after snow

a few slacker geese

step up flight

~Biswajit Mishra

sand leaves

with every ebbing tide

pilings shift

beach front property

makes a splash

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Uproar

There is nothing stable in this world—uproar’s your only music. – John Keats

Roar up. Roar down. It’s all chaos.

The only stable is for the horses,

and that might have blown away.

~Nolcha Fox

Takes More Than Looks

My late wife and her dead sister

show up together at my door

I slip out the back.

Tackled by an ex gf

bony fingers at my throat

is a deathbed conversion

still an option?

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

Lotus flower

I plucked

from a muddy pond.

~Fhen M.

first cockcrow

witches stop dancing

in my dream

~Bidyut Prabha Gantayat

What the Toaster Hates

Grubby fingers

Jam, jelly, and butter

Crumbs in its bottom

Being banged headfirst on the counter

Roaches, crawling inside, laying eggs!

The new toaster

~David C. Kopaska-Merkel

clam clowder —

cat watches cat

watching cat

~Rupa Anand

I have written

thousands of poems about cats—

but not one today

~Jennifer Gurney

Conception

Phones beep at subway stops.

Dating apps creep into bedroom breakups.

Tomato juice is too acidic.

Juice bars promise sweet match ups

(no additives needed).

Alerts report newly filed lawsuits.

Meta is accused of promoting addiction

(addictive qualities conspired).

Together, we conceive.

~Jennifer Schneider

She shh ssh hhh sss —

a leaf whispers to the grass

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

I can hear pictures

SEGA

~Fhen M.

Ring, cake, ring, bell, bell, cake.

~Fhen M.

I am letters without alphabet

~Mykyta Ryzhykh

Evening of January 10, 2024

  

 

the telescopefish

shapes from ninety-nine

fathoms

~Richard Magahiz

airstrike a misuse of air

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

in case of love   scan with this laser

~Richard Magahiz

vestigial organ i remain the assistant manager

~Raghav Prashant Sundar

chain smoker under the door

~Elliot Diamond

the shape-shifting carcass: silent vultures

~Arvinder Kaur

background tv news all my haiku about war

~Roberta Beach Jacobson

cicadas were their bridesmaids starlings their ushers

~Richard Magahiz

in her garden

only nightshades

moon magic

~Steve Van Allen

resplendent trogans

their under-tails

flash in code

~Richard Magahiz

A 2D square sees the surrounding in one dimension

let it fly and hover over the 3D earth.

But what is a tesseract?

~Fhen M.

gaps

in the audio

from the Neolithic

~Richard Magahiz

I’m sure that 100,000


sciences have proven

rain is, too

~J. D. Nelson

I am so dirty / I do so very much need / some old-fashioned soap

~Charles A. Perrone

I Did It

You’re supposed to put grief in every poem.

~Noah Berlatsky

cavewolf sprite

oh, you could:


hiccough downtown

o the oooooooo

~J. D. Nelson

woodland walk

I follow my dog's example

and pee

~John J. Dunphy

Afternoon of January 10, 2024

 

new year

filling the recycling bin

same old resolutions

~Wanda Amos

Hiding in the Cabbage Patch

Companies can collect data

on connected children's products,

microphones and high-def cameras

hidden in the terms and conditions,

as you discover who's really behind

those dead, black marble eyes

of your child's favorite

stuffed and plush baby doll.

~Chris Butler

bicycles

on the screen

am I a robot

~David Josephsohn

robots

on the screen

am I a bicycle

~David Josephsohn

dragon’s breath—

pursuing the expectations

for hope and peace

in this waning year

of the rabbit

~Wanda Amos

Man Is Insane

Man

will start wars

for an invisible god,

but does not care if

they intentionally kill

their next door neighbor,

just because they haven't

shaved their shaggy lawn

in a couple of weeks.

~Chris Butler

there’s only purple where your head should be

~David Josephsohn

Tofu Dreg

Complex apartment complexes

crafted by empty egg cartons,

collapsing, crushing and cracking

all of the fragile human shells

piled by the hundreds high inside.

~Chris Butler

Parents

Father and Mother

bring us into this world.

Father Time and Mother Nature

take us out.

~Chris Butler

Scratchy Baby

Pour salt in the womb

and I shrivel up like a slug,

since I'm such an itchy baby

wearing little scratchy mittens.

~Chris Butler

mirrors

above both sinks

double vanity

~David Josephsohn